- 1) Fred Destin: Open source venture capital.
- 2) Jason Ball’s Techbytes.
- 3) Thomas Grota – A personal view on venture capital.
- 4) Jalak Jobanputra – The barefoot VC.
- 5) Christoph Janz – The angel VC.
- 6) Mark Suster – Both sides of the table.
- 7) Martin Varsavsky.
- 8) Fred Wilson – A VC.
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9) Paul Jozefak – Babbling VC
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10) Ciaran O’Leary – Berlin VC
1) Fred Destin: Open source venture capital
Who? Brussels-born Fred Destin is a founding investor at Seedcamp and a partner at Atlas Venture, an investment firm that targets early stage startups in the areas of life science and technology innovation.
What? He has invested in Dailymotion, Zoopla, Seatwave, Cinemagram, The Currency Cloud and EnglishCentral among others.
Why you should read it: Because Destin begins each post with a cool image of a fractal, which he eloquently explains the significance of here. And he shares his thoughts – honestly and openly – about the business of funding innovation.
Excerpt from “Ecommerce is a slog – what’s your angle?“
Scale will crush you unless you fully understand your angles. Without an angle that helps you achieve better margins, whether on customer acquisition, buy-side margins or recurrence, it’s going to very, very hard.
2) Jason Ball’s Techbytes
Who? Jason Ball is Director at Qualcomm Ventures Europe and is based in London. Previously he worked at London Seed Capital as the the Investment Director. Ball has been working with internet and mobile startups for eight years.
What? Currently, he serves as a board member for Arteris, Videoplaza and Blippar, to name a few.
Why you should read it: Because Ball offers practical entrepreneurial advice on an array of topics in a clear, concise and easy-to-understand manner. Whether you want to know more about the perfect pitch, raising money or shipping product – he’s got you covered.
Excerpt from “3 steps to meeting investors (at events)“
Do not, and I repeat, do not walk up randomly and pitch them on the spot. (Aka Don’t pitch me, bro!)
3) Thomas Grota – A personal view on venture capital
Who? Thomas Grota is the Investment Director at T-Venture, the venture capital arm of Deutsche Telekom, and brings over 15 years of experience in the IT and telecommunications industry. He is also a mentor at Seedcamp and HackFwd.
What? He is a board member at 6Wunderkinder, MyTaxi, flaregames, Smarchive and apprupt.
Why you should read it: Because Grota gives us a glimpse of ‘a day in the life’ of an investor with snaps from his office, takeaways from industry events and predictions for the European VC landscape in 2013. It really is “a personal view on venture capital from a corporate VC perspective”.
Excerpt from “‘The hype’ – when values get out of bounce“
Investors today are not gambling on numbers but on their estimation of teams, markets and products. They will limit their risks across various asset classes meaning various phases and markets.
4) Jalak Jobanputra – The barefoot VC
Who? Jalak Jobanputra is Founding Partner of FuturePerfect Ventures, an early-stage VC fund in NYC, and a TechStars mentor. Previously, she was Senior Vice President at the New York City Investment Fund and Principal at New Venture Partners.
Companies: She has invested in several companies such as TxVia(acquired by Google), Demantra (sold to Oracle), Viacore (sold to IBM), Ticketfly, SeatGeek
Why you should read it: Because Jobanputra has over 18 years of experience in the areas of venture capital, media and technology and you’ll want to read about her business secrets, career advice and outlook on investing.
Excerpt from “One-hit wonder, or the secret to longevity“
Openness is how large companies survive and how startups pivot – they are aware of market conditions and make changes to adapt, or more optimally, to stay in front of the market.
5) Christoph Janz – The angel VC
Who? Christoph Janz is Co-founder and Managing Partner at Point Nine Capital. Prior to that, he was an active angel investor and co-founded internet startup DealPilot.com, one of the first comparison shopping engines.
What? He has made investments in Zendesk, FreeAgent, Geckboard, Boxed Ice to name a few.
Why you should read it: Because Janz started blogging about the internet even before Twitter existed. Additionally, he shares valuable insight on internet entrepreneurship in thorough and well-conceived posts. A must-read – especially if you’re an SaaS startup.
Excerpt from “The 4th DO for SaaS startups – Make your website your best marketing person”
The primary objective that your website has to achieve is clear: attract as many visitors as possible and turn as many of them as possible into trial users.
6) Mark Suster – Both sides of the table
bothsidesofthetable.com/
http://english.martinvarsavsky.net
Who? Los Angeles-based Mark Suster has been on both sides of the table – an entrepreneur and investor. Now, he’s a Partner at GRP Partners, a venture capital firm that has made investments in global brands such as Starbucks and Costco.
What? As an entrepreneur he founded BuildOnline and Koral, which were both acquired. He’s invested in companies such as Affordit, EagleCrest Energy and EcoMom.
Why you should read it: Because with blog posts titled “Beware of ballers on a budget” and “Conference Hos“, Suster has the ability cover seemingly banal topics in a highly entertaining way.
Excerpt from “Entrepreneurshit. The blog post on what it’s really like“
Entrepreneurshit… It’s not all glamour. It’s mostly not glamorous at all. It’s just something you have to do… Your impertinence would get you fired in 2 days for telling your boss he’s a fuckwit. And it’s why you probably will quit on day 366 after the acquisition.
7) Martin Varsavsky
Who? Martin Varsavsky is an Argentine/Spanish entrepreneur. Currently, he is CEO of global wifi network Fon, an angel investor and a professor at Columbia University.
What? Over the past two decades, he has founded seven companies and invested in several others such as Rdio, Technorati, Tumblr and Wikio.
Why you should read it: Because Varsavsky has built businesses in both North America and Europe and is able to give readers a comprehensive look on the similarities and differences in entrepreneurship between the two continents.
Excerpt from “Advice for U.S. entrepreneurs who move to Europe”
If you are an American entrepreneur going to Europe you have to understand that Europeans are different. Focus less on making your employees rich… focus more on creating an environment of excellence where people can be proud of what they do
8) Fred Wilson – A VC
Who? Fred Wilson has been a VC since 1986 and is now the Managing Partner of Union Square Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City. He also co-founded Flatiron Partners in 1996.
What? Wilson is a director at Etsy, Outside.in, Donorschoose.org and Kik Interactive among others. He’s also made investments in Engagio and WallStrip.
Why you should read it: Because Wilson has one of the most widely read VC blogs and is known to engage with readers often. Not only that, he is a one of the most prolific bloggers and posts almost every other day.
Excerpt from “In between: The tough place to be“
At the stage where you are past hopes and dreams, where you have customers, revenue, and a real business, but have not yet reached “true success”, there just aren’t many investors to choose from
9) Paul Jozefak – Babbling VC
Who? Currently, Paul Jozefak is Managing Director at Liquid Labs, a company builder focusing on early-stage financial tech startups. While Jozefak technically isn’t an investor any more, he has over 10 years of VC experience. Previously, he was Managing Partner at Neuhaus Partners and Investment Director at SAP AG.
What? He was a Board Member at Content Fleet, Smava, apprupt, Propertybase, Emporis and verwandt.de.
Why you should read it: Because while Jozefak isn’t a VC any more, he is still very much involved with startups and has years of experience to draw from (and write about). If you’re looking for anodyne advice, look elsewhere because Jozefak serves a dose of blunt opinions with a side of dry humour.
Excerpt from “Sex is fun. Your app ain’t“
People DO NOT use apps first and foremost because they are fun. They use them because they are beneficial to them… They make you faster, more efficient, effective, connected, communicative and so forth.
10) Ciaran O’Leary – Berlin VC
Who? Berlin-based Ciaran O’Leary is Partner of Earlybird, a European venture capital firm focusing on technology ventures, and has over eight years of experience as an investor.
What? Investments include 6wunderkinder, madvertise, Moped, simfy and Peak Games
Why you should read it: Because O’Leary is basically the unofficial spokesperson for Berlin’s startup scene and has been quoted countless number of times in international media outlets. He’s new on the blogging block (he started this week) but if his first two posts are any indication, it looks promising.
———————————–SECOND ARTICLE
Whether or not you’re raising money for your business, getting advice from venture capitalists can be invaluable. But, getting in the doors of a Sand Hill RoadVC in Silicon Valley can be an incredibly difficult undertaking. Fortunately, many of the top VCs share their thoughts on their blogs and are full of advice for startups, both big and small.
Here’s a list of our favorite VC blogs, in alphabetical order. I like to follow these blogs through Feedly, but you can often sign up to get email alerts for new posts from most of these blogs.
Inside the Minds of Top Venture Capitalists: Blogs You Need to Read to Understand How VCs Think
1. andrewchen.co
Eric Ries of The Lean Startup has called Andrew Chen’s blog “one of the best entrepreneurship blogs of all time.” And, there’s a good reason why; it includes back-to-back essays on mobile, high-growth startups and technology. It’s one of my favorites on this list.
Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewchen
2. A Smart Bear
This is the home of Jason Cohen, software startup founder, bootstrapper, investor, and mentor. Jason does an excellent job explaining the math behind more complex subscription forecasting, but also touches on topics like marketing and company culture. It’s a great blog to visit, especially if you need help with your subscription business.
Follow Jason on Twitter @ASmartBear
3. AVC
Probably the grand-daddy of VC blogs, Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson has been posting every day since 2003. From life advice and commentary, to practical know-how for growing a tech startup, AVC is a must-read blog. Almost as good as the blog itself is the thoughtful and intelligent community that posts hundreds of insightful comments on a daily basis.
Follow AVC on Twitter @avc, follow Fred on Twitter @fredwilson
4. Above the Crowd
Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital doesn’t publish frequently, but his essays on market trends and Benchmark portfolio companies are a window into how VCs view the world and the kinds of business models that they find most interesting.
Follow Bill on Twitter @billgurley
5. a16z
The Andreesen Horowitz blog is the work of the famous VC firm’s partners and covers all things software in Silicon Valley and beyond. Don’t miss out on their great podcast!
Follow Andreesen Horowitz on Twitter @a16z
6. Bothsides of the Table
What do you get when a successful entrepreneur becomes a VC and then starts blogging about his experiences? You get Mark Suster’s excellent blog where he doles out advice to aspiring CEOs. From leadership advice to thoughts on how to build a thriving company, Mark’s voice is direct and succinct. Certainly one blog to keep high on your list of must reads.
Follow Mark on Twitter @msuster
7. Feld Thoughts
Brad Feld is a managing director at Foundry Group in Boulder, Colorado. His blog is full of personal stories, gentle advice, and guidance that will be useful to any startup founder. Brad also has a much bigger list of VC blogs than this one if you’re feeling like you don’t have enough reading yet.
Follow Brad on Twitter @bfeld
8. First Round Review
Ok, this technically isn’t a blog by a VC—it’s just brought to us by one of the top VC firms out there: First Round Capital. The blog is almost entirely guest posts from insanely smart and interesting people who have excellent insights into starting and growing companies.
Follow First Round on Twitter @firstround
9. Haywire
On Haywire, Semil Shah shares stories about his investments, giving a behind-the-scenes view on why he’s working with the companies in his portfolio. He also shares his thoughts, industry trends, and where he sees the companies going, from the investor’s perspective.
Follow Semil on Twitter @semil
10. Hi, I’m David G. Cohen
David Cohen is the founder and Managing Partner of Techstars, the #1 ranked internet startup accelerator in the world. His blog skips any academic theory about building a company and instead provides actionable advice for dealing with the day-to-day of growing a startup.
Follow David on Twitter @davidcohen
11. Hunter Walk
Hunter is a partner at Homebrew and previously led consumer product management at YouTube. He talks about building a new VC firm, his investments, and his hits and misses along the way.
Follow Hunter on Twitter @hunterwalk
12. Paul Graham
As co-founder of Y Combinator and co-founder of the Viaweb which sold to Yahoo! in the late ’90s, Paul Graham has a wealth of experience that he shares in his “essays.” The word “blog” doesn’t really describe what Paul does, but subscribe anyway and don’t skip what he has to say.
Follow Paul on Twitter @paulg
13. Sam Altman
As president of Y Combinator, the hugely successful seed-stage investor/accelerator, Sam Altman has a lot of knowledge to share. He covers broad topics such as net neutrality, but also dives into the specifics of starting a company, touching on things like hiring and employee retention. His blog is a great read for both a VCs perspective on the tech industry, and for insight into broad trends, as well as detailed advice that will help founders build their companies.
Follow Sam on Twitter @sama
14. Tomasz Tunguz
Tomasz really describes his own blog best: “I’m a partner at Redpoint and write daily, data-driven blog posts about key questions facing startups, including how to fundraise, startup benchmarks, management best practices, and team building.” Could you be any more precise?
Follow Tomasz on Twitter @ttunguz
15. The Barefoot VC
Venture capital is a male-dominated business and it’s rare to get the perspectives of female VC. So, it’s great to have Jalak Jobanputra, as managing partner at FuturePerfect Ventures, share her perspective on The Barefoot VC blog.
Follow Jalak on Twitter @jalak
16. The Gong Show
Andrew Parker is a VC with Spark Capital in Boston. One of the most interesting parts of his blog is his section of “thesis” posts in which he describes the investments he’s made and why he’s made them.
Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewparker
17. This is going to be BIG
Charlie O’Donnell is a partner at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Like other VCs, he talks about his investments and why he makes them. But, he also has great advice on growth strategies for early-stage companies.
————————-
Whether or not you’re raising money for your business, getting advice from venture capitalists can be invaluable. But, getting in the doors of a Sand Hill RoadVC in Silicon Valley can be an incredibly difficult undertaking. Fortunately, many of the top VCs share their thoughts on their blogs and are full of advice for startups, both big and small.
Here’s a list of our favorite VC blogs, in alphabetical order. I like to follow these blogs through Feedly, but you can often sign up to get email alerts for new posts from most of these blogs.
Inside the Minds of Top Venture Capitalists: Blogs You Need to Read to Understand How VCs Think
1. andrewchen.co
Eric Ries of The Lean Startup has called Andrew Chen’s blog “one of the best entrepreneurship blogs of all time.” And, there’s a good reason why; it includes back-to-back essays on mobile, high-growth startups and technology. It’s one of my favorites on this list.
Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewchen
2. A Smart Bear
This is the home of Jason Cohen, software startup founder, bootstrapper, investor, and mentor. Jason does an excellent job explaining the math behind more complex subscription forecasting, but also touches on topics like marketing and company culture. It’s a great blog to visit, especially if you need help with your subscription business.
Follow Jason on Twitter @ASmartBear
3. AVC
Probably the grand-daddy of VC blogs, Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson has been posting every day since 2003. From life advice and commentary, to practical know-how for growing a tech startup, AVC is a must-read blog. Almost as good as the blog itself is the thoughtful and intelligent community that posts hundreds of insightful comments on a daily basis.
Follow AVC on Twitter @avc, follow Fred on Twitter @fredwilson
4. Above the Crowd
Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital doesn’t publish frequently, but his essays on market trends and Benchmark portfolio companies are a window into how VCs view the world and the kinds of business models that they find most interesting.
Follow Bill on Twitter @billgurley
5. a16z
The Andreesen Horowitz blog is the work of the famous VC firm’s partners and covers all things software in Silicon Valley and beyond. Don’t miss out on their great podcast!
Follow Andreesen Horowitz on Twitter @a16z
6. Bothsides of the Table
What do you get when a successful entrepreneur becomes a VC and then starts blogging about his experiences? You get Mark Suster’s excellent blog where he doles out advice to aspiring CEOs. From leadership advice to thoughts on how to build a thriving company, Mark’s voice is direct and succinct. Certainly one blog to keep high on your list of must reads.
Follow Mark on Twitter @msuster
7. Feld Thoughts
Brad Feld is a managing director at Foundry Group in Boulder, Colorado. His blog is full of personal stories, gentle advice, and guidance that will be useful to any startup founder. Brad also has a much bigger list of VC blogs than this one if you’re feeling like you don’t have enough reading yet.
Follow Brad on Twitter @bfeld
8. First Round Review
Ok, this technically isn’t a blog by a VC—it’s just brought to us by one of the top VC firms out there: First Round Capital. The blog is almost entirely guest posts from insanely smart and interesting people who have excellent insights into starting and growing companies.
Follow First Round on Twitter @firstround
9. Haywire
On Haywire, Semil Shah shares stories about his investments, giving a behind-the-scenes view on why he’s working with the companies in his portfolio. He also shares his thoughts, industry trends, and where he sees the companies going, from the investor’s perspective.
Follow Semil on Twitter @semil
10. Hi, I’m David G. Cohen
David Cohen is the founder and Managing Partner of Techstars, the #1 ranked internet startup accelerator in the world. His blog skips any academic theory about building a company and instead provides actionable advice for dealing with the day-to-day of growing a startup.
Follow David on Twitter @davidcohen
11. Hunter Walk
Hunter is a partner at Homebrew and previously led consumer product management at YouTube. He talks about building a new VC firm, his investments, and his hits and misses along the way.
Follow Hunter on Twitter @hunterwalk
12. Paul Graham
As co-founder of Y Combinator and co-founder of the Viaweb which sold to Yahoo! in the late ’90s, Paul Graham has a wealth of experience that he shares in his “essays.” The word “blog” doesn’t really describe what Paul does, but subscribe anyway and don’t skip what he has to say.
Follow Paul on Twitter @paulg
13. Sam Altman
As president of Y Combinator, the hugely successful seed-stage investor/accelerator, Sam Altman has a lot of knowledge to share. He covers broad topics such as net neutrality, but also dives into the specifics of starting a company, touching on things like hiring and employee retention. His blog is a great read for both a VCs perspective on the tech industry, and for insight into broad trends, as well as detailed advice that will help founders build their companies.
Follow Sam on Twitter @sama
14. Tomasz Tunguz
Tomasz really describes his own blog best: “I’m a partner at Redpoint and write daily, data-driven blog posts about key questions facing startups, including how to fundraise, startup benchmarks, management best practices, and team building.” Could you be any more precise?
Follow Tomasz on Twitter @ttunguz
15. The Barefoot VC
Venture capital is a male-dominated business and it’s rare to get the perspectives of female VC. So, it’s great to have Jalak Jobanputra, as managing partner at FuturePerfect Ventures, share her perspective on The Barefoot VC blog.
Follow Jalak on Twitter @jalak
16. The Gong Show
Andrew Parker is a VC with Spark Capital in Boston. One of the most interesting parts of his blog is his section of “thesis” posts in which he describes the investments he’s made and why he’s made them.
Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewparker
17. This is going to be BIG
Charlie O’Donnell is a partner at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Like other VCs, he talks about his investments and why he makes them. But, he also has great advice on growth strategies for early-stage companies.
1) Angel VC by Christoph Janz
Currently a Managing Partner at Berlin-headquartered VC firm Point Nine Capital, Christoph Janz has a ton of experience when it comes to entrepreneurship and angel investing. He co-founded DealPilot.com and PageFlakes – both were eventually acquired. Janz’s blog, which he’s been regularly updating since 2005, focuses mostly on SaaS-related themes.
2) Thinking Out Loud by Ophelia Brown
As an investor at Index Ventures (which also has a blog worth checking out) in London, Ophelia Brown focuses on the realms of digital health, financial services and e-commerce. Previously, she supported investments in Socialbakers, Supercell and Transferwise. Brown’s blog features insightful posts on innovation and why Bitcoin needs women.
3) A personal view on venture capital by Thomas Grota
Based in Germany, Thomas Grota is Investment Director at T-Venture Holding, the corporate VC arm of Deutsche Telekom. He has worked in the venture capital and IT/telecoms industry for over 15 years and is a mentor for Seedcamp. Grota’s blog is a mishmash of commentary, industry event recaps and news on the corporate VC landscape and European tech scene.
4) Innovation Nest blog
With offices in Krakow and New York, seed and VC fund Innovation Neststarted out focusing on the Polish market. Now, the firm is investing in B2B technology companies across Europe. From things you need to know about business in the US to lessons on sales for a startup, the Innovation Nest blog has got you covered on a diverse range of entrepreneurial/investing issues.
5) Techbytes by Jason Ball
Based in London, Jason Ball is a Senior Director at Qualcomm VenturesEurope. With more than 10 years working with Internet and mobile software startups, Ball has led Qualcomm investments in Videoplaza, We7 and YPlan. From 3 traits of successful founders to women in tech, Ball’s blog provides commentary on an array of topics.
6) Berlin VC by Ciaran O’Leary
Working out of Berlin, Ciaran O’Leary is a VC at international VC firm Earlybird (see our recent interview). O’Leary’s latest blog post is about how early traction can affect product decision-making in a negative way. He updates frequently as well as offers an interesting POV on the Berlin startup scene and the idea of a ‘Venturesociacapitalist‘. Also: Most posts are accompanied with snazzy memes.
7) Open source venture capital by Fred Destin
Fred Destin is back in Europe… with Accel Partners in London. With more than 14 years of experience investing in tech startups, his blog offers a candid take on funding innovation. Not only that, each post is served up with an fascinating image of a fractal “to remind ourselves of the complexity of the systems we operate in and the need to think non-linearly…”
8) Creandum blog
With offices in Stockholm and Palo Alto, Creandum is a venture capital firm that has invested in Spotify, iZettle and TicTail among others. Unlike many VC company blogs, which mostly consist of press releases, Creandum’s blog also offers insight on interesting topics including employee incentives in Sweden, a day in the life of a VC and Nordic investment activity.
9) Notes of a global venture investor by Gil Dibner
After eight years of VC experience from in the US, Europe and Israel, Gil Dibner joined pan-European venture capital fund DFJ Esprit last year. Prior to that, he worked at Index Ventures focusing on seed/early-stage investing in Europe and Israel. Dibner’s blog provides a global perspective on prevailing startup attitudes and what ‘awesome deal flow’ really means, among other things.
10) Notes of a VC in Berlin/Europe by Pawel Chudzinski
Based in Berlin, Pawel Chudzinski is the other co-founding half of Point Nine Capital alongside Christoph Janz (mentioned above). Previously, he was a co-founder and partner at German company builder Team Europe. On Chudzinski’s blog, you’ll find in-depth posts on what VCs like, global vs (multi-)local startups as well as why context is key when approaching VCs.
11) Entrepreneurship at Work by Roberto Bonanzinga
In July 2014, Roberto Bonanzinga announced his move from Partner to Venture Partner at European VC firm Balderton Capital in order to take on more activities as an angel investor. His blog on Medium covers a variety of topics focusing on “the Internet as an engine for entrepreneurship”, including The Venture Capitalist Struggle and Artist vs Entrepreneur: Genesis of innovation.
12) Frontline Ventures blog
Based in London and Dublin, Frontline Ventures is an early-stage VC firm investing in software startups across Europe. Written mostly by Frontline Ventures’s Head of Platform, Kim Pham, the company’s blog features refreshing posts on the Irish tech scene, inside looks on industry events as well as how to get a startup job.
13) Unvalidated Learnings by Martin Mignot
Originally from France, Martin Mignot is an early-stage investor at Index Ventures in London specialising in SaaS, marketplaces, bitcoin and mobile. He’s worked on more than 50 transactions including Codecademy, Farfetch, and Just Eat. Mignot’s blog is a mix of personal commentary, business quotes and links to interesting tech reads.
14) Dilek Dayinlarli
Born in Germany and raised in Turkey, Dilek Dayinlarli is Vice President at Istanbul-headquartered venture capital firm 212, where she focuses on investments in the realm of Internet, telecoms and tech. At the moment, her blog is only in Turkish, but it’s still worth Google Translating for insights on entrepreneurial motivation and the importance of story-telling for a CEO.
15) The Equity Kicker by Nic Brisbourne
With more than 15 years of experience in the VC industry, Nic Brisbournefounded London-based Forward Partners – a European “startup catalyst” focused on e-commerce startups – in 2013. Although his blog may look like a blast from the past, Brisbourne is a prolific writer touching on a variety of topics, such as the fallacies of anti-tech nostalgia, UK VC market and tips on attending office hours.
https://www.jeffbussgang.com/about/
Amy Lee 